South Africa will play two Tests versus Bangladesh from March 31 to April 12 while IPL will start on March 26.
Meanwhile, a PTI report suggests that the BCCI in likelihood will approach CSA’s Director of Cricket Graeme Smith to find a solution for South African players’ early availability in the cash-rich league earlier than April 15.
Delhi Capitals (DC) might suffer a big blow as Proteas pacer Anrich Nortje hasn’t played competitive cricket since November 2021 due to hip injury and it’s not clear if CSA’s medical team will give him clearance to take part in the Indian Premier League.
Apart from Quinton de Kock (Lucknow Supergiants), who called time on his Test career in December last year, there is no certainty on whether Kagiso Rabada (Punjab Kings), Nortje (DC), Marco Jansen (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Lungi Ngidi (DC) will be available before the culmination of the Test series against Bangladesh.
Moreover, there is Dwayne Pretorius, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, and Faf du Plessis (retired from international cricket).
“The BCCI will be approaching Graeme Smith and check out if some of the top players are available at least a bit earlier. We are hopeful of a solution as we share great rapport with CSA. Some of the franchises will be hurting if they aren’t available for three weeks," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Amid the rising cases of Omicron variant in South Africa, the BCCI had continued with its ‘A’ tour and also sent the senior team for three Tests, three ODIs.
According to PTI, no concrete policy decision has been taken yet by the CSA over players’ availability in the IPL 202.
On Tuesday (March 8), the CSA named an 18-member squad for the Bangladesh ODI series. While the likes of De Kock, Rabada, Markram, Ngidi, Jansen, and Pretorius feature in the squad, it doesn’t have Nortje.
The BCCI and CSA will have to find a solution sooner than later. As per the report, some players might leave after the first Test, which ends on March 4. Even then, the Test specialists, after three-day quarantine, will miss out on 12 days of action which effectively means at least three IPL games.
(With PTI inputs)